MUMBAI:The Essel Group's Indian Cricket League (ICL) will kick off with Delhi Jets taking on Chandigarh Lions on 30 November.

The 20:20 format tournament will have 20 matches. There will be 15 League matches where all teams play each other once, followed by five classification matches, including a 'Super Sunday' on 16 December where the Grand Final preceded by the fifth/sixth place and the thirrd/fourth place deciding matches will take place.

ICL chairman-executive board Kapil Dev says, "The ICL 20 20 Indian Championship will be held as promised, in December at Chandigarh. We are working hard to deliver a very exciting tournament for the Indian viewers. I am confident that the public in this country will witness for the first time a fully professionally run and organised extravaganza of cricket."

Some of the International Players who have joined include Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Lance Klusener and Nicky Boje. Indian players include Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, JP Yadav, Deep Dasgupta, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, T Kumaran and U19 captain Ambati Rayudu, all of who have represented India in the past.

ICL project head Himanshu Mody said, "It is a matter of great pleasure to see these 51 players joining the Indian Cricket League. These players will join the six teams of the inaugural Indian Cricket League. They will be provided with necessary infrastructure, guidance and training to compete at the highest level.

"We believe that each of these players, represent the best of cricketing talent in the country and internationally. We will continue to search for further talent with killer instinct that can take India to the next level. We now see the teams that will play in the ICL tournament later this year, finally taking shape."